Together For Christmas
by Tiger Priestess
Summary: No one should be alone for Christmas, perhaps it's time he realizes that he never has been... Team 7 Oneshot


**Together For Christmas**

**I thought I'd try a Christmas one-shot. Another one that happens after Sasuke comes back from Orochimaru. **

Christmas Eve is a special time for family and friends to gather. However, this one would be different. Team 7 had stopped to enjoy the holiday in the country well-known for its white covered landscape, again on a mission to the Land of Snow. They were currently at an Inn. He could hear the laughs and sounds of his companions celebrating downstairs. It was Christmas again and he preferred to be alone on this time of the year.

'_Another Christmas,' _a dark haired boy thought, looking out the window while sitting on his bed. A fresh layer of snow blanketed the already white surface of land and continued falling without any signs of it stopping. This was his second mission to the Land of Snow. The first was before he left for Orochimaru, when his team was assigned to protect a famous actress, Yukie Fugikaze, who was later discovered to be the Land of Snow's lost Princess, Koyuki Kazehana.

Years after he left, he was brought back by his previous team. After regaining everyone's trust he was allowed to come on this mission. The princess had made a request for the same team that had escorted her during her filming of the last movie of Princess Gale. Someone had stolen a sacred scroll and asked them if they would help her by finding it and safely bringing it back. They succeeded in that mission and were on their way home when they decided to stop and celebrate, much to the Uchiha's detest. Christmas time had brought back so many memories. _'There's no sign of it stopping.' _Sasuke sighed, _'Another Christmas alone.'_

His thoughts were interrupted when there was a soft knock on his door. It was slowly pushed opened and a soft, concerned voice called in, "Sasuke?" It was Sakura; her head appeared through the crack in the door. "Hey," she said when she seen her old childhood crush.

"Hey," he answered, turning his head back toward the window and continued watching white flakes fall gracefully.

Sakura closed the door and quietly approached taking a seat beside her teammate following his gaze. It was quiet, so quiet you could hear the conversation below and Naruto's silly laughter. The kunoichi chuckled quietly, getting Sasuke's attention though at the corner of his eye. "Everyone downstairs is having fun. Kakashi-sensei's being hit on by a couple women and trying to avoid them. They're trying to get him under the mistletoe and Naruto's getting drunk on eggnog."

Just then there was a loud crash from below. "Oww!" again that was the knucklehead ninja followed by silence for a few moments before there were hysterics.

"No thanks," the teen replied in his normal tone, his attention back out the window.

The medic stayed quiet. She knew that he always was the silent type so she decided to respect that. "Hey!" the blonde's voice broke in again. "What're you doing?" there was a sound of a door closing. "Hey! Guys, let me in! It's cold out here! Kakashi-sensei?! Sakura?! Sakura please let me in! It's cold!" the pink-head chuckled again.

"You don't have to spend Christmas alone." She said quietly standing up. "Merry Christmas, Sasuke." Sakura gave him one last glance as she said the last sentence with a small innocent smile before she opened the door and closed it gently behind her.

Sasuke didn't move an inch as she stood up and left, he merely kept his gaze straight. He heard conversations restart and Naruto still calling for someone to let him in. There was a second time a door closed. From the window Sasuke could see it was Sakura with her yellow cloak. Naruto ran over to her as she extended his cloak and scarf which he gratefully accepted, quickly putting it on.

A moment later he shifted his hand to the side and felt something. There he found a small box covered in dark blue with snowflake wrapping paper. He looked at the nametag.

_To: Sasuke_

_From: Sakura, Naruto and Kakashi-sensei_

_Merry Christmas Sasuke_

The avenger blinked. It was Christmas Eve and they were far from Konoha, so how did they get him a little gift? Why him? Sakura's laughter caused him to look out the window again. By the looks of it, Naruto had slipped on a patch of ice and she had found it funny. Again he looked at the small box, slowly and carefully lifting it in his hands as if it were fragile. The wrapping was wrapped with care and the bow tied in with perfection. _'What could it be?' _he thought. It had been a while since he had received a gift. His stay with Orochimaru was a tough one, there was no warmth from a friend or family, merely weapons and tools, as the snake used them. Adjusting to the cold ways of Sound had hardened his heart tremendously and readjusting to the hospitality his friends and teammates had given him was also a tough. After everything, everything he had done, betraying the Village Hidden in the Leaves and tried to kill his best friend. The way he turned his back on those who cared for him most since his clan's massacre, he was still given a gift.

He couldn't describe it. Sasuke felt warm, warmer than he had since he left his home village. Suddenly, he was afraid, afraid to open the gift. Could he accept it, after everything? His hands started shaking slightly as he tore the soft paper in no rush. With every tiny piece off he proceeded to open the box. Inside was a picture in a beautiful black bamboo picture frame. This picture was a different, and one from their first mission to the Land of Snow. Naruto was blushing as he looked at the picture Sasuke handed him with Princess Koyuki's autograph. Sakura was smiling at the picture and Kakashi looked at it, his expression well hidden under his mask. And lastly, Sasuke, himself, with the cool and calm guise he always wore. _'When did she get this?' _just then he looked down in the box and found three envelopes addressed to him.

Setting the picture down he grabbed one envelope and unfolded the flap, pulling out a white paper with curvy kanji. No doubt it was Sakura's.

_Dear Sasuke,_

_I didn't know what to get you for Christmas. If you're wondering where I got this picture, Princess Koyuki sent it to us just after you left for Orochimaru. This is your copy, we all have our own. After we found out our mission I thought this would be something special as did Naruto and Kakashi-sensei. _

_Merry Christmas, Sasuke, and I hope you like it._

_Sincerely,_

_Sakura_

A smirk formed on his lips as he started the second envelope, pulling out the letter. This writing was sloppier than Sakura's curvy signature.

_Hey Sasuke,_

_I'm glad to have you back! Next time you attempt to leave I'll make sure you can't walk let alone stand, even after leaving Sakura the way you did. Anyway, Merry Christmas to you buddy._

_Naruto_

_P.S. Sakura thought of the gift. Hope you like it, though I wish you used a better picture!_

Finally, the third note as if it had taken years to perfect.

_Ah, Sasuke,_

_We are alike in a few ways. Everyone we ever cared for, gone. But you're back now; you wouldn't believe how different it felt with you against us. A comrade and friend, gone. Your actions put us through grief, even when we stood up for you countless times, even Sakura and Naruto when your replacement talked ill about you. _

_I wasn't planning on giving this to you as a gift, but Sakura convinced me otherwise. You know how stubborn she can be, and she made a good argument. Friends are forever, Sasuke, remember that._

_Anyway, Merry Christmas and hope you liked the present._

_Your Sensei,_

_Kakashi Hatake_

When he finished, he thought about everything they had said in their personal letter. Each of them had a part of their heart in it, the feeling of such loyalty and friendship made him give off a small smile and only those who knew him well would know this was a smile. Sasuke looked out the window to watch his former companions, the tiny smile still there.

----

The kunoichi fell on her back and giggled a bit as she started waving her arms and legs up and down. Naruto watched, amused. After a few moments Sakura jumped up, though not to ruin the snow angel she had created. The future Hokage smiled.

"Naruto," Sakura stated. "Let's build a snowman."

"Uh, ok."

The female knelt down and formed a small snowball prior to rolling it in the snow to form a larger one. "I'll build the body, you build the head."

"Sounds good," the blonde began his own masterpiece. The pair molded the body with a craftsman's skill and it was nearly complete. It looked almost human.

Sakura stepped back and looked at it in thought, putting her hand to her chin in thought. "It's missing something. What do you think, Naruto?" she looked at him and he seemed to steal her pose – for which she punched him lightly on the arm for.

"I got it," Naruto unwrapped the scarf and wrapped it around the snowman's neck. "But he's still not complete."

His partner nodded. Before they could continue a snowball met back of the girls head. A vein was throbbing, "Who did that?!" she demanded, the attempt to keep herself calm wasn't lasting to well.

"Sorry," Kakashi rubbed the back of his head and smiled under his mask innocently, "I was aiming for Naruto."

"You're not good at making excuses, Kakashi-sensei," the boy said with a hurt expression. His bottom lip stuck out and his teammate giggled. Naruto slowly turned toward her, as if he were trying to intimidate her. "What's so funny?" he leaned down and grabbed some snow.

"You wouldn't dare…" she backed away slowly as Naruto grinned, snowball in hand.

"Want me to try?" He tossed it as if it accidentally slipped out of his hands. Sakura quickly maneuvered out of the way only to be hit back.

She turned to glare at her sensei. "It slipped," came his reply. The girl rolled a ball in her hands and threw it at her friend – who ducked.

When he stood back up, he was pointing and laughing, eyes closed. "Mis-" there was a second snowball that hit him straight in the face.

"No I didn't," Sakura shouted with soft giggles.

"C'mon Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto exclaimed, "Let's get her!"

Both males grabbed a handful of the white blanket of frozen water at their feet and threw from two angles at their only female companion. Sakura ran for shelter, behind the snowman she and her blonde comrade built. The head fell off after a snowball collided with it.

Naruto stopped, dropping his arms to his side and started pouting, "Not the snow man! Aww, man. He didn't even have a chanc-"

"You should pay more attention to this battle, Naruto." The medic called from her safety area. Suddenly she was grabbed from behind.

"You should watch your back in this battle, Sakura." Kakashi smirked from behind his mask. "C'mon, Naruto, lets whitewash her!"

"Oh yeah!" he happily pranced up.

"No! No, you two! Don't do it! Agh," they pushed her to the ground and her clothes were starting to get cold as they became damp.

The Kyuubi boy laughed and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted as a snowball plowed itself right into his chest. Kakashi, Sakura and Naruto – who had a surprised expression on his face – looked over to see Sasuke. There was a smirk on his face as he tossed a snowball up and down, catching it every time in his hand. "That's not fair, outnumbering someone." His smirk became a little more visible.

"So you decided to show," Kakashi didn't see Sakura grab a handful of snow and push it in his face, even if it was for just a second – the copy-nins mask was wet. His grip loosened and Sakura was able to get a safe distance away. "I can see there's no other way than a two on two snowball fight."

"Hn," Sasuke's expression was the same, prepared to throw the ball in his hand. "Merry Christmas, and thanks for the gift."

Kakashi and the future Hokage made snowballs and sent them at Sasuke and Sakura as if they were a barrage of kunai – who returned with full furry. No one should have to be alone for one of the most celebrated holidays and Sasuke may have finally realized that. He wasn't alone like he was on so many others. They were together for Christmas.

**So…? How was it? I wanted to try my first Naruto holiday fic, and it was not romance this time, like a couple others. Feel free to check some of my other ones if you want. I mentioned the first movie in here, "Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow" – which I think will be my favorite because it's the only one that has Sasuke. I would appreciate any reviews, even criticism works. That's all I ask. Thank you for reading and I hope to see you review in the future with my future stories. **

**Also, I hope you all have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS and I shall do the same. I celebrate my Saviors birth and you all still have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year… please don't forget to review, even if you have to after the holidays. I love you guys!!**


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